Martinez was speaking at a general meeting of Everton shareholders, at the Royal Philharmonic Hall.

The Catalan gave a presentation outlining the key tenets of his plan to turn the Blues into contenders both at home and in Europe.

A series of statistics were used to show how Everton have improved in areas such as passes per game, passing accuracy and minutes per goal during this season.

The issue of young players, though, remains key to Martinez. One statistic showed that players under the age of 24 have played a total of 14,499 minutes this season, compared to just 4,079 in 2012/13.

Martinez stated that one of the key aspects of his work at Goodison going forward would be to have players “ready at a younger age”.

Aside from Ross Barkley and John Stones, the likes of Luke Garbutt and Tyias Browning have made notable progress this season. Ryan Ledson, a 16-year-old midfielder, was on the bench for the Blues last game, away to Southampton.

“The biggest success story of our season has been the development of our young players,” Martinez said.

“For me it is extremely exciting to see how players like Ross Barkley and John Stones have developed, and that will continue to be central to what we want to achieve here.

“As long as young players are treated the same as the guys who have played 500 games, then they understand that there is a learning process, and that they have to keep improving. It is easy to motivate them in that way.”

Martinez, together with chairman Bill Kenwright, also allayed fears from shareholders that the club may be forced to part with key players in the summer due to financial issues.

Kenwright insisted that any such decision would be down to the manager, and said that there were no players at the club with “prices on their head” like Marouane Fellaini, who joined Manchester United for a fee of £27.5m last summer.

Asked if there might be a “tipping point” at which Everton would consider selling key players this summer, Kenwright said: “There's only man who can set that tipping point and that's the manager.

“If Roberto thinks something should happen, then it will happen.”

Martinez added: “The one thing everyone needs to know is that we are not in need of selling players. If we sell, it will be because the time is right and the squad will be in a stronger position because of it. “What is important as a football club is that you don't have to sell to survive. That is not going to happen.

“Will there be new faces coming in and going out? Of course. With every window we need to get fresher, we need players coming in. But we do not have to sell.”